Monumental Women

New York City women’s march, October 23 ,1915. Photo: Library of Congress.

2020 is an American presidential election year, and whether or not we finally see a woman in the country’s highest office, this year officially marks the centennial of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Among the celebrations we’ll see throughout the nation, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Monumental Women will be honoring the life and accomplishments of Susan B. Anthony in Madison Square Park on Friday, February 14th, a day before the pioneering feminist’s 200th birthday on February 15th. Brewer also issued a proclamation declaring February 15th as Susan B. Anthony Day in Manhattan.

New York City’s most famous park will get a new statue honoring women for the first time ever. The city’s Public Design Commission on Monday approved a design for a new Central Park monument that depicts women’s rights activists, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Set to debut next summer on the 100th-anniversary of the 19th amendment’s ratification, the statue’s approval comes as the city looks to address the lack of women honored in public spaces. Currently, all 23 historical monuments in Central Park are of men.

Last year’s unveiling of designs for the first statue in Central Park’s 165-year history that depicts real historic women–a sculpture of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, set to be dedicated in August of 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of nationwide women’s suffrage–was met with the criticism that it didn’t adequately represent the many African-American women who aided in the cause. As 6sqft previously reported, a redesigned statue honoring women’s rights advocates will now include Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and escaped slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, who aided in the fight for women’s rights. The updated design has been revealed. But, as AM New York reports, The city’s Public Design Commission has said the statue still falls short, and has postponed the vote to confirm the new design–possibly jeopardizing an August 26, 2020 unveiling.

Last year’s unveiling of designs for the first statue in Central Park’s 165-year history that depicts real historic women–a sculpture of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony–was met with mixed reviews: Why didn’t the statue, set to be dedicated in August of 2020, marking the 100th anniversary of nationwide women’s suffrage, include any of the many African-American women who aided in the cause? Today it was announced that a redesigned statue honoring pioneering women’s rights advocates will include Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth, an escaped slave and abolitionist who joined the fight for women’s rights.

The official design of the first statue of non-fictional women in Central Park was unveiled last summer. The statue, a sculpture of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, is set to be dedicated on August 18, 2020, marking the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote nationwide. Terrific, right? Not completely. Because, as the New York Times informs us, some women’s rights advocates feel the statue doesn’t show the whole story. One complaint: Stanton and Anthony were white. Included in the statue’s design, a list of women who aided in the cause contains a significant number of African-American women. Why weren’t any of them chosen to be the face of women’s contributions to social equality?

Coinciding with the 170th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention, members of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund unveiled on Thursday the official design of the first statue of non-fictional women in Central Park. Designed by Meredith Bergmann, the sculpture includes both legible text and a writing scroll that represents the arguments that both women — and their fellow suffragists — fought for. There is also a digital scroll, which will be available online, where visitors are encouraged to join the ongoing conversation. The sculpture of Stanton and Anthony will be dedicated in Central Park on August 18, 2020, marking the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote nationwide.

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